This invention relates to a fixture device for use in electrical connection of a flat cable, a ribbon wire, a FPC (flexible printed circuit) or like flat wire member, in which flat rectangular conductors are arrayed side by side, with a circuit board or the like.
There has been generally known a connector assembly for flat wire member which assembly is comprised of a connector for circuit board (terminal-side connector) which accommodates a plurality of terminals side by side and is to be mounted on a circuit board, and a mating connector (wire-side connector) to be mounted on an end portion of a flat wire member such as a flat cable, the flat wire member being connected with the circuit board by connecting the two connectors.
In such a connector assembly, the flat wire member has its end portion processed to expose conductors to outside, and this end portion is supported on a plate-shaped supporting member provided in the wire-side connector. When the two connectors are connected, the end portion of the flat wire member is inserted together with the supporting member into the terminal-side connector to bring the respective conductors into contact with the terminals. As a result, the respective conductors of the flat wire member and patterns on the circuit board are electrically connected.
Electrical connection of audio equipments installed in an automotive vehicle is, for example, thought as one of applications of the connector assembly for flat wire member as above.
As automotive vehicles have come to possess more functions in recent years, the number of such audio equipments is on the increase, forcing the audio equipments to be laid out in a limited narrow space. Thus, at the time of assembling, repairing and inspecting the audio equipment, the flat wire member needs to be inserted and detached in a narrow space.
However, in many cases, the detaching operation cannot be performed in such a narrow space by gripping the connector fast, making the insertion and detachment of the flat wire member difficult. Particularly, if the connector assembly is small, the inserting and detaching operations are even more difficult. Therefore, it is desired to solve this problem from the structural aspect of the connector assembly.
In addition to the above type of the connector assembly for flat wire member in which the two connectors are connected with each other, there is, for example, a connector assembly of the type in which conductors of the flat wire member are brought into contact with terminals by directly inserting an end portion of the flat wire member into the terminal-side connector and placing a plate-shaped member called slider on or under this end portion of the flat wire member. In the connector assembly of this type, the slider needs to be inserted and detached upon inserting and detaching the flat wire member. The inserting or detaching operation may not be performed in a narrow space by gripping the slider fast. Similar to the connector assembly of the former type, it is difficult to insert and detach the flat wire member.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fixture device for use in connection of a flat wire member with a terminal connector which is free from the problems residing in the prior art.
According to an aspect of the invention, a fixture device is used in connection of a flat wire member with a terminal-side connector for accommodating terminals. The fixture device comprises: a housing having a shape engageable with the terminal-side connector for holding conductors of a flat wire member in contact with the terminals when the housing is placed in the terminal-side connector; and a handle changeable between an accommodated position and a used position, the handle extending in a direction opposite from an engaging direction of the housing with the terminal-side connector when the handle is located at the used position.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.